Flutist

From ragtime to music for ballet and film, this program showcases American music in a wide range of styles from four of its greatest composers: William Bolcom, an American icon as prolific as Mozart; Amy Beach, who broke the gender barrier with works of genius; Bernard Herrmann, a New York City wunderkind who took Hollywood by storm; and Aaron Copland, whose music personified the American spirit.

EPSG:4326

Copland's Appalachian Spring

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Atlanta, GA American Soundscapes

Emory University

This crowd-pleaser of a program features five standout concertos by Italian Baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi, who famously wrote more than 400 such works, including ones that influenced his German contemporary, Johann Sebastian Bach. Here, Vivaldi's flute and violin concertos showcase the virtuosic talents of soloists Tara Helen O’Connor, Ida Kavafian, Cho-Liang Lin, Daniel Phillips, and Danbi Um.

Vivaldi Concertos

New Mexico Museum of Art

Emotional conflict is at the heart of this moving program, although it’s tempered by the presence of Kodály’s lighthearted, late-Romantic Serenade. Bernstein’s Halil—which the composer said speaks to a sense of war-based or war-feared “struggle” and to “the consolations of art, love, and the hope for peace”—opens the program, while Dvořák’s tumultuous F-minor Piano Trio—a work that an influential critic at the time said demonstrated that the composer was “at the pinnacle of his career”—brings the evening to a dramatic close.

Dvořák & Bernstein

Saint-Saëns’ beloved animal portraits meet Michael Stephen Brown’s new work celebrating endangered species in this poignant season finale.

Carnival of the Animals

Norton Museum of Art

The wind quintet has the challenge, as well as the benefit, of bringing together five distinct instruments to explore multiple blends of timbres. Klughardt's work is a beautiful example of great writing for each of the five, and the addition of piano in Louise Farenc's Sextet provides expanded sonic dimensions and is a true tour de force for the pianist. The program is balanced with smaller combinations featuring double reeds, the regal sound of the horn, and upper winds. 

Century of Winds

CMS’s holiday tradition continues with the joyful and astonishingly varied Brandenburg Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach. Virtually unknown until their publication in 1850, the Brandenburg Concertos are a defining demonstration of Bach’s mastery of Baroque music.

The Brandenburg Concertos

This program explores the interplay between wind instruments and piano, beginning with Mendelssohn’s Concert Piece No. 1 in F minor for Clarinet, Bassoon, and Piano, Op. 113, a lyrical work showcasing dynamic exchanges between the instruments. Next is Schulhoff’s Divertissement for Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon, a lively piece by the Czech composer known for blending jazz, folk, and classical influences.

Beethoven’s Quintet for Piano​ and Winds

Saratoga Performing Arts Center

The world premiere of a Festival-commissioned work by composer Xinyang Wang, who draws equal inspiration from classical music and traditional Chinese arts, opens this program, which also features clarinetist Todd Levy in Academy Award–winning composer Bernard Herrmann’s quintet Souvenirs de Voyage, a cinematic journey through England, Ireland, and Italy. 

Souvenirs de Voyage

Donald Runnicles makes his Festival debut conducting Mahler’s consummate fusion of song cycle and symphony, Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth), performed here in its intimate chamber orchestra version. Mahler was reeling from the loss of his daughter and other crises when he wrote this deeply moving work, and the poems he set to music evoke the beauty, sadness, and transience of life. An all-star ensemble is joined by two extraordinary soloists who are also making their Festival debuts: German mezzo-soprano Annika Schlicht, whose voice OperaWire has praised as “extraordinary for its beauty of tone,” and American heldentenor Clay Hilley, who was lauded by The New York Times for his “vocal heft [and] clarion sound.” 

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde

Dvořák & Prokofiev

Immerse yourself in the delights of high French Baroque music—from the passion of Rameau to the poise of Lully—with this keyboard-centered program performed by New York Philharmonic harpsichordist Paolo Boridignon, violinist Yura Lee, flutist Tara Helen O’Connor, and cellist Peter Stumpf. 

French Baroque Masters: Rameau & Lully

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) returns to the Mondavi Center to perform Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, works that unfailingly provide spiritual fulfillment for music lovers of all faiths and beliefs, inspiring strength at year’s end and a vision of the brightest future. The artistic core of CMS is a multigenerational, dynamic repertory company comprised of an evolving and unparalleled roster of performers. Demonstrating the belief that the future of chamber music lies in engaging and expanding the audience, these expert chamber musicians draw more people to the genre than any other organization of its kind.

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts

Uplifting, inspiring, hopeful, energizing, innovative, spiritual: all of these adjectives apply to Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. To say that the world needs them now more than ever is an understatement. They represent what humankind at its finest can achieve, and because of that, we gather around them faithfully every season.

Chicago, IL Brandenburg Concertos

The Brandenburg Concertos 2026

Grass Valley, CA

Grass Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church 

Author Kahlil Gibran’s prophet said: “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.” The ability of classical music to mourn is one of its most powerful facets, here on full display in a program devoted to sadness, remembrance, and ultimate triumph in Taneyev’s uplifting quintet.

Rachmaninoff and Taneyev

The wonders of nature have inspired artists since prehistoric times. Classical music’s depictions of animals date from the early Baroque period and continue to this day, as revealed in this exceptional program.

A huge force of performers convenes to celebrate the season’s close with chamber works of orchestral scale. Stravinsky's vigorous "Dumbarton Oaks" Concerto is paired with music that inspired him: Bach's ebullient Third Brandenburg Concerto. CMS eagerly awaits the performance of commanding mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe in the role of Haydn's tragic heroine Arianna. Mendelssohn’s youthful string sinfonia then leads to the final completed masterpiece of Mozart, his immortal Clarinet Concerto, finished only weeks before his death.

Flutist

Tara Helen O'connor

Events

Upcoming events

Dec 12, 2026

Chicago, IL Brandenburg Concertos · Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

13 - 18 Dec, 2026

The Brandenburg Concertos 2026 · Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Jan 17 - Apr 18, 2027

Grass Valley, CA · Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Feb 9, 2027

Rachmaninoff and Taneyev ·

Apr 4, 2027

Carnival of the Animals · Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Past events

Oct 13, 2026

Copland's Appalachian Spring · Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Oct 2, 2026

Atlanta, GA American Soundscapes · Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Future and recently performed repertoire

Flute in Flute Concerto in D major by Vivaldi

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival

Flute in Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns

Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach

Flute in Halil by Bernstein

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival

Flute in Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622 by Mozart

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Flute in Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048 by Bach

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Flute in Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F major, BWV 1046 by Bach

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Flute in Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047 by Bach

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Flute in Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050 by Bach

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Flute in Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat major, BWV 1051 by Bach

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Flute in Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049 by Bach

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Flute in Three Rags for String Quartet by Bolcom

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Flute in Psycho: A Narrative for String Ensemble by Herrmann

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Flute in Appalachian Spring Suite for Ensemble by Copland

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Flute in Le carnaval des animaux for Ensemble by Saint-Saëns

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Flute in Concerto in D major, RV 428, “Il gardellino” (The Goldfinch) by Vivaldi

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Flute in Tarantelle in A minor for Flute, Clarinet, and Piano by Saint-Saëns

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Flute in Concerto in E-flat major, "Dumbarton Oaks" by Stravinsky

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

About

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